There are at least 21.8 million people out there who watch NCIS on a weekly basis, and they all live in Wyoming? Florida? Some state between North and South Dakota? Seriously, who are these people? I’ve never met one (note: I never met my grandparents). I asked Yahoo! Answers, “Why is NCIS so popular?” and received an unsatisfactory response: “I’ve never seen it.” And yet, the most JAG of CBS’ current programming is the only series on TV more popular than Sunday Night Football, finishing at the top of the 10 most-watched shows of the fall.

NCIS truly is our Seinfeld. Anyway, out of curiosity, I rounded up the 10 most popular TV shows for every season since 1993-1994, because we don’t talk about the cultural clusterf*ck that was Joe Millionaire nearly enough.

1. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Tuesday)
2. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Thursday)
3. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Sunday)
4. ER
5. Friends
6. Monday Night Football
7. Frasier
8. 60 Minutes
9. The Practice
10. Touched by an Angel

2000-2001

1. Survivor
2. ER
3. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Wednesday)
4. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Tuesday)
5. Friends
6. Monday Night Football
7. Law and Order
8. Everybody Loves Raymond
9. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Sunday)
10. The Practice

My mom doesn’t have a DVR & we are getting her a Roku & Netflix for Christmas. It’ll either be a complete waste of money, or we’ll never hear from her again as she gets knee deep in Golden Girl episodes.

Simply dig deeper to the median age of the most popular shows. NCIS is 60 years old. Ever wonder about big bang theory? Nearly 50. This blog is populated with 18-35 year olds. That is why these rankings are so strange.

It’s also because of USA Network’s usage of the syndication rights. It’s always on, so it’s perfect for a lazy afternoon or as background noise while you do something else. After a while, you begin to actually like it. Then you watch it first-run when USA starts to repeat itself. USA did the exact same thing to me with the Law & Order trilogy.